1/2 Just Walk with me– Through Lee’s Season 1 Apartments! By SilverCorvette

Hi Everyone! SMK fan ‘SilverCorvette’ has had some fun putting together some posts about Lee’s apartments.
Whoo hoooo!

Let’s give her a warm welcome- thanks for contributing to the smk fun SilverCorvette! Take it away SilverCorvette!Iwsod

Just Walk with me Through Lee’s Apartments

I thought about Lee’s apartments a lot after reading a comment that someone thought Lee lived within the same building in different apartments because the same exterior was always shown. I thought about it so much that I got out my DVDs again (such a hardship, I know)

So, just how many apartments did Lee live in ? Were they all in the same building ?

Let’s walk through them and see what we think.

Season 1

By date of Airing, the first time we see where Lee lives is in If Thoughts Could Kill (ITCK). Some, me included, think that The ACM Kid should have been the first episode where we) see where Lee lives. In The ACM Kid, Amanda says “I lived in place like this in college, when Mother saw it she made me move” I don’t think she would have said that if she had been there before.

Exterior

If this is the outside, it does not match what you see inside very well. This building looks quite old. Love the turrets on the corners !

(Above) Outside, If Thoughts Could Kill

(Above) Outside, The ACM Kid – Amanda’s first visit

(Above) Outside, The ACM Kid – Amanda’s second visit – Lee seems to have moved to a new building mid-episode !

Or more likely, did they just add the wrong the outside view in post-production ? Because they re-arranged the episodes ?

(Above) Outside – Never Look A Gift Horse (NLAGHITM),Saved by the Bells (SBTB), Remembrance of Things Past, and IANN…Spy

(Above) NLAGHITM – this shot seems to imply that Lee lives on the top floor but those windows do not match the inside !

So did Lee move after The ACM Kid, into an apartment with a very similar layout and colour scheme, in this newer building? Or did TPTB just decide they liked the outside of this building better?

As Lee climbed up to the bedroom window and Sinclair (ROTP) and Amanda (in IANN..Spy) climbed down the fire escape, where is that ? Was Lee’s apartment really supposed to be facing the side street, with the fire escape and laneway below it at the back ? Or am I getting picky and asking questions that I should not be bothered about ? (It’s TV-land after all, things don’t have to make sense or be logical!)

Apartment 1

I think that Lee lived in the same apartment each time we see it in early Season 1 but the outside of the building shown as a scene establisher changes after(during) The ACM Kid. Of course, he could have moved to another one any time after episode 13. Also there is no consistency in which floor he lives on, sometimes the establishing scene zooms in on the top floor, other times it focuses lower down.

The following shots [for the two posts] are what we see in If Thoughts Could Kill (Ep 3), The ACM Kid (Ep 5), Saved by the Bells (Ep 8), Remembrance of Things Past (Ep 11) and I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been a Spy (Ep 13). There is also a brief visit to Lee’s apartment in Never Look A Gift Horse in the Mouth (NLAGHITM) (Ep 6).

Entry

The front door is in a separate entryway with a mirror opposite between the kitchen and the living room.

The inside of the front door, was white in ITCK and The ACM Kid, but has been replaced by a wooden one in ROTP.

ITCK – This is Lee’s neighbour Lydia Lowell, I think the apartment was 805, hard to capture clearly – but there is not eight floors in the first building we saw.

I know Lee does not pickup his stuff, but leaving a coat hanger hanging off the statue on the wall ?

It is 805, (ACM Kid)

And in Saved By The Bells (SBTB)

(ROTP) The apartment across the hall, has a matching door with 804 – did the whole building get new doors ?

So we are to assume that Lee lived in apartment 805 through all the episodes in which we see it in Season 1.

See the mirror behind Amanda as she comes to the kitchen

and stands at the door. (And is she wearing the same clothes ? ACM Kid and ROTP)

We only see the doorman (Floyd Feller) in ROTP

Living Room

From the entry hall, turn to your right into the living room.

As you enter the room, there is a bookcase to your right (with a big shiny plaque over it) and the big window beyond it.

This window does not look like the bay window shown on the outside in ITCK.

On the other side of the window is Lee’s roll top desk. A typewriter on the desk, just like one I used to have.

I think some of the photos over the desk can later be seen in the Q-Bureau.

Do trees grow like that, all the way up close to the 8th floor windows ?

In front of the window, is a brass vase and a small table with the bronco statue and Tibetan Ram’s Horn. Later there are different things on the table – ice bucket ? and a lamp in ROTP.

In ICTK, ACM Kid and SBTB, there’s a also telescope in front of the window – stargazing in the middle of DC ? Spying on his neighbours ? To hang clothes on ? See how far it sits out from the window – I’d be always tripping over it ! I guess the telescope would have been difficult to navigate around during the sword fight, so it’s not there in ROTP.

Do you keep your coffee pot on your desk in the living room ? Rough night with Alexei ?

At the end of the room, in a shallow alcove, is a white door to the bedroom (in ITCK and ACM Kid) but like the front door, by ROTP and IANN..a Spy it has been replaced by a wooden door that opens the other way.

(ITCK)

(The ACM Kid)

(IANN..Spy)

From the kitchen towards the bedroom (ROTP)

On the other side of the bedroom door is a bookshelf, and a corner of wall, then sometimes another shelf unit or a shrub, then the fish tank ? We really don’t see that side too much. I love the white unicorn on the top shelf! Wasn’t that picture next to the fridge in The ACM Kid ?

In the corner beside Amanda is another shelf unit thing (ITCK) whereas in (ROTP, and in ACM Kid) there is only a shrub.

Looking from the desk, across to the kitchen as Lee enters from door (ACM Kid)

So to the left of the doorway is the fireplace and then the built-in shelves with stereo and albums and that uncomfortable looking chair and a lamp.

In the ACM Kid there is a large model ship on the mantel, with a clock beside it on the wall.

In ROTP, the model ship has been conveniently replaced to 2 mounted swords on the wall and trophies on the mantel.

A brown couch and oval coffee table, and a sofa table behind the couch are in the middle of the room.

In Saved By the Bells, the fish tank sits opposite the window, near the end of the couch, but do we ever see it at any other time ?

In Remembrance of Things Past, the scatter rugs have been replaced by an ugly brown nylon carpet (so the fuse burns ? or were rugs a trip hazard for the sword fight ?) And there is a light coloured square lamp table, with lamp, at the end of the couch.

I would really appreciate your thoughts and comments, especially if there is anything I did not notice.-SilverCorvette

Iwsod: We’ll pause here for the moment.. and in the next post we’ll continue our walk through Lee’s Season 1 apartment, with a close inspection of Lee’s Kitchen, Bedroom… plus a surprise apartment!

Oh my gosh! I’m so excited that finally SilverCorvette’s smk fun is being shared with us all!

Welcome to the JWWM blog post writer’s club SilverCorvette 

Lol thanks for the sacrifice! Haaaa..

Turrets! How romantic 😉

For outside in ACM kid, it could be the same apartment but a different room no? isn’t it the same floor?
Oh I see Turret block has only two columns on those middle flat windows, but the night one has three columns of windows.. they are different! Good catch!

Lol post production errors? Who knows! I just pretend it’s all a cunning plan to keep Lee’s enemies on their toes and confused. Plus, he doesn’t want all those women he’s probably jilted showing up all the time 😉

Rofl yeah Lee lives on the top floor.. but. It magically doesn’t look like it inside! Maybe the zoom in shot is misleading us on purpose? 😉

Maybe the director’s daughter lives in this block of flats and it gave them a hoot to pretend it was Lee’s block 😉

The fire escape? Hm.. good question. Could it be down the side of the building? On the left there where we can’t see it? It could be that the view of Buzz blade we saw was the roof of that building next door? Maybe?

Was Lee’s apartment really supposed to be facing the side street, with the fire escape and laneway below it at the back ? Or am I getting picky and asking questions that I should not be bothered about ? (It’s TV-land after all, things don’t have to make sense or be logical!)

You’re in good company SilverCorvette, don’t you worry about that! 

Yep I agree it does seem like the same apartment, except for magically changing exteriors, and then also the magical view out the windows which suddenly has trees or high rise buildings. Lol. I’m pretty sure we were suppose to be so focused on Lee that we wouldn’t notice. We showed them! 

I think they were going for Lee being a bachelor slob in season 1. But it’s so weird how this changes. But.. I’ll hold off on commenting on future apartments for now.

I like Lee’s season 1 apartment, it has a feel to me like it is surrounded by things that have meanings and memories for Lee. Of his word travels and adventures. It doesn’t look like a place designed to sparkle and entertain guests. It’s what he is comfortable with. Aside from the mess, I like that!

Thank you all for your kind words – it was a joy to watch these episodes closely for the research. As I worked my way through I kept asking myself things like – “where are the fish?” and “where’s the bronco statue” and where does he eat ? or does he never have a meal at home ? I suspect that the theory was that no-one ever visited Lee at home, before Amanda. But yes I do like this large and airy apartment much better than Season 2 and 3’s which I have been looking at this week, even if they are tidier. Something I did notice about the security, but did not mention, was that mostly the front door seemed to have two locks, sometimes a security chain and sometimes a peep-hole, but Lee seems to have used them rarely. Maybe because there was the doorman downstairs ? Even Amanda is only seen to open one lock when she arrives, but then did not lock it behind her. And if the doorman was at the front door, why did his neighbour get the box with the duck in ITCK ? Did she just happen to be there at the time ? And how did the baddies get in in SBTB ? I like the idea of the Agency having all its agents living in a nice secure block, but then Francine would have been just on the doorstep.

I don’t think you’d want all your agents in one location – too much risk of losing all or most of them if something dire did happen to the building. However, Lee seems to be really lax with the security given that there must be any number of hostile foreign agents, not to mention numerous miscellaneous disgruntled baddies, wth his name to their Must Kill Today list.

Catching up with all your comments tonight Iwsod. 🙂 Just re-read this comment because I couldn’t remember it, and think I really must’ve written this one in my sleep because the last bit just doesn’t make any sense. I think I meant to say :
“…not to mention numerous miscellaneous disgruntled baddies with his name on their Must Kill Today list.”

Oooh…. Excellent research, Silvercorvette! I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. You packed a lot of great information into this post. I like the comparisons of outside versus inside. That’s something I never paid much attention to when watching these episodes. I’m glad we’re able to explore it in more detail here. I can’t figure out that tree outside Lee’s apartment. It sort of looks like a wreath in ITCK. In the scenes where we see branch shadows… It almost seems like some tree just sneaks up to the window for a peak into Lee’s apartment (lol). I don’t see any trees close enough or high enough to cast that kind of shadow. I agree with you on the ugly brown carpet. I have a few more thoughts on this, but I’ll post again later. Great work! Looking forward to part II. 🙂

Brilliant, Silvercorvette, I loved it!!! I have to say I am surprised that there are so many anomalies in the season one apartment, I never noticed any of them (says a lot for my powers of observation ). I also have to admit that I really like the season one apartment. I dont’ know if this is sentimental or because I love season one the best or because it features in some great episodes (I don’t hate ITWK kill as much as most people do). This apartment has personality while the later apartments, (in season three and two), don’t. They may be neater, but (IMHO), they are duller.
I think the typewriter may have been thrown in to emphasise that Lee had serious brain work to do as well as action. I think that they were going for a kind of India Jones/James Bond vibe with the decorations.

Agree Michele, I think this apartment does have more character. The current apartment doesn’t have Lee’s personality – someone goofed when they were dressing that set. I imagine Lee would have decluttered considerably those things that didn’t have any personal meaning for him, but I think he would still have items like the Remington cowboy sculpture. As I think I’ve said in a previous post – he would still have great taste and excellent quality homewares and art, but it would reflect his real personality and would be a more realistic and comfortable environment for someone like Amanda.
I like the lay-out of his current apartment (even the French doors into the bedroom, which give it an airy, sunny, feel) but the overall sparseness and the pretentious art in his current apartment isn’t Lee. So, I just imagine it how it should look.
One has to exercise much imagination with SMK, but I do wish they had paid more attention to making the S3 apartment a better reflection of Lee and his transition to a more normal way of being.

To add further to my thought about gifts from ‘family’, Lee doesn’t seem like a shopper to me. When he’s traveling somewhere for work, I could see him scoping out the great places to eat or heading for the place with the best …(fish, crapes) or whatever. And that’s about all he has time for. I just don’t see him souvenir shopping. If something catches his eye, it’s just ‘by chance.’ He’ll order a copy of a painting, etc. and have it sent home.

Excellent work SilverCorvette!
Lee’s apartment sure is chocka-block (or chocko-blocko 😉 ) with stuff. Must take hours to clean around and under all that stuff. Maybe he gets people in to do his dusting and cleaning.
If I were an intelligence agent I’d keep it simple so I didn’t have to get people in to do stuff. Maybe a Russian agent could sneak in as a cleaner!
I’d also want an apartment that was the most secure in the building – not easily accessed. I guess that would be an upper floor rather than one of the lower levels. And I’d make darn sure the windows were bullet proof!
So, maybe it’s an Agency apartment block (Why not? They have a yacht, a helicopter and the Cumberland don’t they? The Agency must own some residential real estate too.) The doorman might be employed by the Agency for security, and perhaps Lee’s nosey neighbour is a retired agency employee.
You’re right SilverCorvette, those trees must be tall!
Despite the discrepancies, I get the feeling they wanted us to think Lee lived in the same apartment through-out S1, as there are plenty of similarities in terms of the style of building and the interior of the apartment, but I think they weren’t paying much attention to the detail (like we do 😉 ) and making sure it was exactly the same throughout the whole season.
Can I go of on a tangent to SMK fashion and note that Lee’s jeans fit ohhh-so-fine in S1, and I think he’s got the legs to look good in that short robe. ‘scuse me while I go find the smelling salts before I swoon gracefully into the gutter. 😛

Hey, you’re not supposed be looking at Lee’s jeans (or his short robe) although I agree they are pretty swoony. I think it is meant to be the same apartment even though little attention seems to have been paid to the finer details. There seems to have been no “theme” to Lee’s collection of stuff, except ugly brown things.

Poor Lee – for someone who is so careful about his appearance, his apartment(s) is a real mishmash of items. Looks like a man who travels a lot (and feels the need to pick up curios at every city he visits) and doesn’t spend much time making his apartment into a “home”.

Is that a typewriter on the desk when Lee in his very short gown holds the coffee up? Is Lee writing his memoirs? Somehow I see him as a man who employs a typist to do boring stuff.

I’m with you about the turrets, SilverCorvette. Much more interesting than the later exterior.

I agree, Learjet, Lee does seem very particular about his own appearance, and very uncaring about his living space. I get that he is untidy (the men in my life are just the same) and unfazed by mis-matched furniture (as are mine) but the greenery and the clutter bother me. I had a typewriter just like Lee’s but I cannot imagine what he used if for at home – did he take his reports home to type – I thought he got had the steno pool for that.

Thanks Melissa, I had great fun trawling through all the episodes to work this out, then I had to watch the particular episodes lots of times, especially the one with Lee in his short robe and practically nothing else !

I agree that all these details are making me cross-eyed (Of course that could be that short robe too :). SilverCorvette this is an incredible blog post. Thank you so much for taking the time and your attention to details. I had always wondered about all the different items in the season 1 apartment. I am really looking forward to your next one. (Side note – Buck list item to one day get a ride in a silver corvette 🙂

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